THREATS AND RESPONSES: WHITE HOUSE

THREATS AND RESPONSES: WHITE HOUSE; BUSH AND ALLIES WILL MEET TO SEEK WAYS TO SWAY U.N.

By RICHARD W. STEVENSON with WARREN HOGE

Published: March 15, 2003

WASHINGTON, March 14—
The White House said today that President Bush would meet on Sunday with the leaders of Britain and Spain, his staunchest allies in demanding that Iraq disarm, to determine if there is a last-ditch way to bring the United Nations together on an ultimatum to Saddam Hussein.

But the meeting, to be held in the Azores in the eastern Atlantic, bore no promise of a diplomatic breakthrough. As much as anything, it seemed intended to show the three leaders' willingness to explore all alternatives before Mr. Bush authorizes military action.

Not invited to the gathering were the six nations whose votes the United States, Britain and Spain are seeking in their effort to win the Security Council's imprimatur on a new resolution authorizing war if Iraq fails to disarm. The White House today rejected the latest effort by the six nations -- a proposal put forward by Chile seeking three more weeks for Mr. Hussein's government to meet five tests of his willingness to disarm -- hours after it was made public.

Ari Fleischer, the White House spokesman, said ''all final diplomatic options'' would be on the table when Mr. Bush met in the Azores with Prime Minister Tony Blair of Britain and Prime Minister José María Aznar of Spain. The three countries sponsored a Security Council resolution imposing a deadline of Monday on Mr. Hussein to give up his weapons of mass destruction or face an invasion. The resolution has so far attracted the firm support of only one other nation on the 15-member Security Council, Bulgaria.

After insisting for a week that it would force a vote in the Council, the White House has over the last few days waffled about its intentions Today, administration officials did not rule out the possibility that the three leaders would decide on Sunday to abandon the resolution altogether.

Adding to the sense that the United States is closing out its diplomatic playbook before unleashing the military, Mr. Bush appeared in the Rose Garden this morning to announce that he is prepared to proceed with a new international effort to bring peace between Israel and the Palestinians. Mr. Blair said the move was intended to signal that his country and the United States were sensitive to the concerns of Arabs even as they prepare to deal with Mr. Hussein.

President Jacques Chirac of France, whose pledge to veto any United Nations resolution in the Security Council has infuriated both the United States and Britain, called Mr. Blair today to discuss Iraq. But aides to Mr. Blair said there was no indication of any movement toward a compromise that might allow the Security Council to take a unified position, and American officials said they saw little value in engaging France in any high-level last-minute diplomacy.

''This has gone on long enough,'' Condoleezza Rice, the national security adviser, said in an interview with Al Jazeera, the Arab television network, referring to diplomatic efforts to disarm Iraq.

Mr. Fleischer said that if Mr. Bush decided to go to war, he would address the nation before the start of hostilities and would have ''much information to share with the American people'' about the risks and costs of the conflict.

At the United Nations, the frenetic activity of the last week gave way to canceled meetings and a growing sense of resignation that the war would start with the world deeply divided over whether Mr. Bush was acting precipitously in resorting to military action.

As the diplomacy entered what White House officials said could be its final days, the Pentagon continued to put its fighting forces into position. The Navy sent a number of cruisers and destroyers from the Mediterranean through the Suez Canal into the Red Sea. The shift will enable the warships to launch cruise missiles at Iraq without the missiles' entering the airspace of Turkey, which has yet to provide the United States with overflight rights or permission to base ground troops on its territory.

Diplomats and administration officials said Mr. Bush and Mr. Blair had been considering a meeting to discuss the diplomatic endgame for several weeks. Mr. Fleischer had denied as recently as midday on Thursday that the president had any plans to travel.

Mr. Fleischer said today that the idea of a trip had come up again late on Thursday, and had come together only early this morning. This left the White House scrambling to make arrangements for the president, his staff and reporters to descend on the air base, shared by the United States and Portugal, on the island of Terceira. The Azores are part of Portugal.

But the White House also made clear that the last-minute push to mend the deep divisions that have riven the Security Council and left the United States at odds with France, Germany, Russia, China and other nations had little to do with Mr. Bush's desire for further United Nations authorization. More important, officials said, were pleas from Britain and Spain, whose leaders face intense domestic political opposition to their support for Mr. Bush, to give diplomacy one last chance.

''This is important to our friends and our allies,'' Mr. Fleischer said. ''And if it's important to our friends and our allies, it's important to President Bush.''